Arafat Takes Heat off May 4 Deadline Oslo Accords Are Set to Expire, but the Leader Is Unlikely to Declare aPalestinian State Soon

Article excerpt

The possibility that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would
follow
through on his warnings to unilaterally declare a state on May 4 has
been the time bomb ticking beneath the stalled Israeli-Palestinian
peace process.

It now seems clear that Mr. Arafat will defuse that danger,
moving
closer to postponing the declaration in recent days. And as a result
of what at times appeared to be a race to see who could get more
mileage out of the standoff - Arafat or Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu - the Palestinian leader seems to be leaping
ahead
by winning new words of support from the United States and
enthusiastic backing at home.

More than 100 members of the Palestine Central Council (PCC), a
governing body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), began
convening at Arafat's office here on Tuesday in order to determine
whether next week is the appropriate time for the Palestinians to
declare statehood. May 4 marks the end of the five-year period of
Palestinian autonomy outlined in the Oslo accords.
Palestinians believe that the natural product of that process is a
state of their own. The Israeli government says that a variety of
options exist, and that such matters must be worked out around the
negotiating table.
But Mr. Netanyahu pulled away from those talks, halting further
peace moves soon after signing the Wye accords last October, when he
came under intense pressure from his right-wing constituency.
Israeli lawmakers called new elections last December, signaling that
Israel would not implement any steps in the accords for at least
another six months.
The prospect of the declaration of a Palestinian state, with or
without Israel's say-so, is a worrisome prospect for Israelis. They
fear that many nations of the world would offer recognition to the
newborn state, diminishing Israel's power to influence what it would
look like. Netanyahu says that if Arafat tries such a contentious
maneuver, Israel will annex all parts of the occupied West Bank and
Gaza Strip still under its control. According to many scenarios, a
military confrontation might ensue.
Such saber-rattling over the issue seemed about to scale down as
senior Palestinian officials suggested they would opt for
postponement, or at least continue deliberations until after Israeli
elections. "I don't think we need to be in a hurry to decide whether
to declare or postpone," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, the Palestinian
Information Minister, after the meeting got under way.
Arafat told PLO members that the most important thing is that a de
facto Palestinian state is already functioning on the ground. "We
don't need to affirm our state, because we are actually exercising
statehood," the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, quoted
Arafat
as telling the assembly, which was closed to the press. …